


Liminal

by Terminallydepraved



Series: Dakeverse [7]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Custom Clans - Dakeverse, Diners, Fluff and Humor, Letifer-ever-after, Light Angst, M/M, Slice of Life, vague descriptions of murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-28 18:24:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19399825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terminallydepraved/pseuds/Terminallydepraved
Summary: Gavin's coffee addiction leads him to working overtime in a shitty little diner, and while the ambiance is lacking, he finds a way to still enjoy his not-really-a-day-off day off thanks to his delightful partner Nines.





	Liminal

**Author's Note:**

> i got kinda stir crazy with all these long-form projects and i wanted to do something short to feed you guys. this won a poll over on twitter, so enjoy this little post-letifer but pre-moving in together fic with our two favorite detectives!

The blinding off-white glare of fluorescent lights in a diner burned in a special sort of way that every third shifter knew intimately. Gavin blinked and narrowed his eyes as he skimmed the reports laid out on the slightly sticky table. The text hadn’t started to jumble yet. He took another swig from his lukewarm coffee, reading a little faster while he still had the energy to read at all. 

Tonight wasn’t his night to work. It was a day off, in fact, yet here he was, burning the four a.m. oil in search of any clues that might have escaped notice earlier in the week. It was a rough case; they all were now that he’d been made detective. Rough and bloody and intertwined with shit a hell of a lot more insidious than any normal person would assume at first glance. 

Apparently that came with the territory of being  _ in the know.  _ Bully for him. It just made for more overtime. 

Gavin sighed and leaned back in his vinyl booth seat, the cracked red upholstery squeaking with the movement. He kneaded at his tired eyes and then glared a little at his nearly empty coffee. Where the hell was the waitress? He had needed a top-off an hour ago. 

He looked around the empty diner, drinking in the black-and-white checkered tile and fifties era trimmings. The singular cook was falling asleep through the little window that looked into the kitchen, and the waitress—a middle-aged woman with auburn hair that definitely came from a bottle—had her feet kicked up at a back booth, her nose buried in the folds of a magazine. 

Gavin sighed again, a little louder. She turned a page, either not hearing or not caring. This was just bordering on cruel and unusual punishment at this point, and as an officer of the law, he definitely wasn’t going to stand for it. 

The door chimed just as he gathered up the wherewithal to clear his throat. The waitress jolted up at the sound, smacking her magazine against the table as she threw on her hostess smile to whatever unfortunate soul just wandered in off the street. 

“Hello, honey,” she said, putting on her sweetest tones that she’d conspicuously forsook while serving Gavin earlier. She stood up and brushed the wrinkles free from her apron, heading behind the servers stand to grab a menu. “I’ll be with you in just a minute. Coffee?”

“Um, yes, please?” Gavin called out, not bothering to look at the newcomer. He came first, and he needed his damn coffee refill. 

The waitress shot him a glare. Didn’t she know he was a cop? Then again, maybe she did know. Maybe she didn’t appreciate cops coming in here with gruesome case files and spreading them out all over the place. The thought got away from him when he watched the waitress’s attention cut to the side. She frowned. 

“Oh, there are plenty of places to sit—” she began, but then cut herself off when a cold, heavy hand settled on the back of Gavin’s neck. 

Instinctively, Gavin froze. But then a thumb rolled against the stiff muscles on the back of his neck, digging in with just the right amount of pressure to loosen every inch of him into goo. Gavin slumped into the booth seat and huffed out a weak laugh, tipping his head upwards to look into cool blue eyes. “Took you long enough to get here,” he breathed, smiling up at Nines. “I almost thought you weren’t going to show.”

“Got caught up in some things,” came the cryptic reply, Nines slowly letting his hand slip away so he could walk around the table and settle into the seat opposite Gavin. He gave the papers and reports a cursory glance, but mainly focused on Gavin. “You look tired, Gavin.”

“And you look unreasonably sexy for it being four in the morning,” Gavin retorted, leaning forward on his elbows as he admired the form-fitting turtleneck Nines had opted to wear. It looked new. Expensive. Nice and tight just like the skinny jeans he’d gotten a glimpse of too as he sat down. “Did I mention its four in the morning? What happened to you calling me at one? I’ve been sitting here getting ignored for the past three hours like some asshole having a pity party after being stood up.”

Nines’s gaze flicked over Gavin’s shoulder. He pursed his lips as the waitress approached, fresh pot of coffee in hand and a new mug and silverware set in the other. He said nothing as she set both down and filled the cups, but he did manage a smile in response to her general welcome. Gavin’s heart did a funny little dance at the sight. 

Of course, that might have just been from the coffee he’d been mainlining all night. The second the waitress—who as it turned out had a name tag that read Vivi—finished filling his mug, Gavin grabbed it up, draining half of it in one ill-advised gulp that seared his tongue and throat. His eyes pricked with tears, but he swallowed the pain down. He needed this. He so needed this, even if Vivi was looking at him like he was a fucking idiot.

“Top me off, ma’am?” he croaked, pushing his mug towards her before she could run away back to her magazine. 

“How much have you had tonight, Gavin?” Nines asked, sharing a concerned look with Vivi. Of course he would’ve already charmed her. Five minutes in his presence and Nines could charm a fucking gargoyle. 

“Not nearly enough to finish this shit up,” he answered evenly, tapping at a particularly gruesome photo of a Sunday school teacher who had been found behind some bar with her throat ripped out. Vivi’s eyes naturally followed the movement, and her face paled. She wordlessly filled his coffee and set the pot on the table.

“Can I… get you anything to eat, honey?” she asked Nines after a moment of visibly searching for her voice. 

Nines did that self-conscious little smile of his that never failed to melt Gavin’s heart and stir his insides into a bubbly, hot mess. “I’m fine for now, ma’am. But thank you.”

Vivi softed a little and managed a smile too. “You let me know if you change your mind, y’hear? I’ll be right over there,” she said, pointing at her abandoned magazine as she turned away from their table. 

“Thanks,” Gavin told her retreating back. She, of course, ignored him. 

Nines didn’t look at him again until Vivi was back in her far-off seat and hidden behind her magazine. When he did, it was with a frown on his face. “I don’t think she likes you,” he observed flatly. 

Gavin shrugged, picking up his coffee for a more measured sip this time. “She loves you, so what does it matter? Did you get the confirmation we were looking for on this?” he asked, nodding down at the reports. Gavin had put his money on it being vampire bullshit once more, but he’d been wrong before. As it turned out, humans could be just as fucking bloodthirsty as literal bloodsuckers. 

“It’s being looked into,” Nines said plainly, like he wasn’t happy about his lack of progress on that front. Gavin sighed, trying not to be disappointed. It wasn’t his fault. Ever since he’d cut ties with the Enforcers, his access to ongoing case information had lessened considerably. 

“You sure you can’t get any of your old Enforcer buddies to slip you some info?” he tried, already anticipating the— Yep, there it was. Nines was scowling, hands wrapped around the coffee he couldn’t drink to warm them up. 

“The only way I’d get anything out of any of them would be through force or intimidation,” Nines said, the words clipped and loaded with frustration. He looked up, narrowing his eyes. “There’s one person I could go to for both of those things, but I didn’t think you’d enjoy that option.”

Gavin tightened his hold on the mug handle and drained the cup just to add to the burning anger churning in his stomach. “We are  _ not  _ going to Ryker,” he growled, setting down the empty mug with a clack. He reached for the pot and refilled it a bit messily, sloshing some coffee onto the table. Nines though was there with a napkin to dab it up before it could touch the papers. 

“I know. Which is why all I can say for now is that it’s being looked into.” 

Gavin brought the mug halfway to his lips, then paused as he watched Nines clean up the spill. Nines’s shoulders were tense, his lips curled into a frustrated frown. His eyes were downcast. Like he blamed himself the lack of progress. For his lack of contacts. 

Sighing, the mug went back onto the table. Gavin snagged Nines’s coffee-warmed hand and held it in his own across the table, vehemently ignoring the way Vivi’s magazine pages stopped turning. Nines lifted his head and looked at him, his expression still too forlorn for Gavin’s taste. Gavin smoothed his thumb over the back of Nines’s hand.

“It’s okay,” he said, squeezing his hand. “We’ll catch them. We always do.”

Nines bit down on his bottom lip, the glint of his fangs only just visible. In the shitty lighting, he looked all the more ethereal. “I just wish I could do more,” he said quietly. His free hand, the one not currently trapped by Gavin, clutched the mug of cooling coffee like a lifeline. “Maybe I… shouldn’t have burned so many bridges.”

Gavin squeezed Nines’s hand hard enough to steal back his attention. “Hey,” he called out firmly. “Are you happy?”

Nines blinked. “Am I happy?”

“Yeah. Like, in general. With me. With life now.”

Nines didn’t frown, but it was close. His cheeks tinted that gentle pink as he looked down at the checkered tile on the floor. He shrugged, and it was a testament to how shitty Nines had had it that he managed to make his unease and disquiet so minute when he took up as much space as he did in the booth across from him. 

“Because the way I see it,” Gavin went on, bringing Nines’s hand to his lips for a kiss. Off to the side, he was sure he heard Vivi gasp. “Is that none of that shit matters now if you’re happy. I don’t wish you were still miserable just because it might make things a little easier work-wise. That’s not a fair exchange, and I just hope you know that too.”

“Gavin,” Nines huffed, glancing at him, clearly embarrassed. 

Gavin raised a brow. He looked over at Vivi who was clearly trying to pretend that she wasn’t watching avidly over the top of her magazine. Then, he looked at Nines. “What?” he asked. “I’ll say it as many times as you need to hear it. We’ll catch the fucker doing this, and we’ll do it together, understand?”

Nines made no attempt to take back his hand. He fidgeted in his seat and looked at the photographs near Gavin’s elbow. “But if it is a…” He paused, clearly not wanting to say it with Vivi paying such close attention. “If it is a special case, then we’ll be at a disadvantage.” 

“So what?” That got Nines to look at him, a frustrated little pout on his lips. Gavin’s heart lurched. Again, he blamed it on the coffee. “I don’t know if you recall, but I happen to be pretty good at my job, and from what I’ve heard, so are you. I think we’ll manage just fine.” 

“Gavin.” This time, it was said fondly. 

“Nines,” he retorted, just as fondly. He pressed one last kiss to Nines’s hand before letting it go. His back met the squeaky red vinyl seat back, and he smiled at his boyfriend, hooking an arm over the back of the seat to take him in fully. From the fit of his cozy sweater to the pink blush still tinting his pale cheeks, to the mug of coffee still warming his slender fingers. Gavin sighed and chuckled. 

“What are you laughing at?” Nines folded his arms in front of his chest, too cute to be taken seriously at all. 

“Oh, just wondering something, is all.” Gavin drummed his fingers on the back of the seat, somehow content despite the hour and the state of the case still strewn out in front of them. 

Nines quirked a brow. “What?”

Gavin’s grin was a slow, gradual thing. “Sure you wanna know? It’s important. Probably the most important thing I could ask you at a time like this.”

Nines’s eyes widened. His blush darkened an almost imperceptible amount. His fingers curled into the fabric of his sleeves tightly. He licked delicately at his lips, and breathed, “What is it, Gavin?”

Gavin let it dangle for a beat. He made a show of clearing his throat. “I was just wondering…”

“Yes?”

Gavin lost the fight to keep a straight face. “Just wondering if you were gonna drink that,” he said, nodding at Nines’s coffee. He snorted as Nines’s curiositity morphed into annoyed exasperation. He shoved the mug over to Gavin’s side of the table with a huff that ruffled his bangs. 

“You’re the worst, you know that?”

Gavin picked up the mug of room temperature coffee and laughed against the brim. “Yeah,” he said, taking a drink that tasted better than he knew it should. Maybe it was the late hour that made it so sweet. “I think I’ve heard that before.”

Or, he thought, maybe it was just the company.

**Author's Note:**

> that was fun right? god, i missed these two. i hope you enjoyed it! leave a comment if you did and be sure to check me out on twitter @tdcloud-writes for more dbh funtimes, as well as my original work under the name T.D. Cloud. until next time!


End file.
